Wednesday, 9 February 2011

Writers and Academics Against Homophobia

Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka and others have condemned the murder of Ugandan gay activist, David Kato. On Monday a group referring to itself as Writers and Academics Against Homophobia issued a press release. Feel free to share this petition through your social networks.

They called on the Ugandan government to find and prosecute those involved in the murder of David Kato who was a well known gay campaigner in Uganda.

According to the group which includes BCC award winners and best selling authors, misgiving about homosexuality should not be a matter for the government to delve into. They therefore urged African governments to expunge all anti-homosexuality provisions in their constitutions. The group said that scientific research has cleared the fog of ignorance that some religions foisted on the people concerning homosexuality.

Similarly the group called on all African governments to emulate South Africa which has expunged her laws that criminalise homosexuals or treat them as unworthy of the same rights as other citizens.

The document was signed by at least 60 signatories including Damola Awoyokun, Wale Adebanwi, Diran Adebayo, Joe Agbro and Anengiyefa Alagoa.

(The comments section of the PM News report shows clearly the extent of the problem that ignorance represents)

The Petition

We the undersigned condemn in the strongest possible terms the murder of Mr David Kato the Ugandan gay rights campaigner. We wish to state emphatically that homosexuality is neither a sin nor a social or cultural construct. It is a biological given. Homosexuals are human beings like everybody else. Scientific research has been helpful in clearing the fog of ignorance entrenched by some religious texts in regards to homosexuality. Our opinions of homosexuality must change for the better just as our opinion of slavery has changed even though it was endorsed by those same religious texts. All violence against gays and people deemed to be gay in Africa must cease forthwith.

We call on the government of Uganda to find and prosecute all those involved in the murder of Mr Kato, including the newspaper that called for the hanging of gays. We also call on African governments to learn from the South African example by expunging from their laws all provisions that criminalize homosexuality or treat homosexuals as unworthy of the same rights and entitlements as other citizens. African states must protect the rights of their citizens to freedom and dignity. Homosexuals must not be denied these rights.

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Quotes

“Truth alone will endure, all the rest will be swept away before the tide of time. I must continue to bear testimony to the truth even if I am forsaken by all. Mine may today be a voice in the wilderness, but it will be heard when all other voices are silenced, if it is the voice of Truth”

“An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it”

“I look only to the good qualities of men. Not being faultless myself, I won’t presume to probe into the faults of others”

“It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err”